A Pint For Kim
We are the friends and family of Kimberley Benedyk Sandford of Naperville, Illinois who, after an inspiring eight year journey with a rare cancer, left us in March 2020. Our 100% volunteer run team now organizes blood drives year-round in her memory, including our big annual record-setting Mother’s Day Weekend drive and life-saving festival, held in Naperville, IL. We are not a typical charity as we do not try to raise money. We only try to raise awareness that the largest use of donated blood goes to cancer patients and to inspire blood donations in Kim’s memory! None of this would be possible without the generosity of hundreds of volunteers who donate their time and effort to make each event a success, as well as our generous Mother’s Day weekend event sponsors and prize donors! You can read more HERE.
Kim’s heroic eight-year experience with cancer began in 2012 when she was diagnosed with a 1-in-a-million stage IV cancer. Though the initial prognosis was scary, Kim battled with fierce determination, strength, and grace. We consider the eight years we had with Kim after that diagnosis to be a gift, one that she gave us by fighting so hard. You can read more about her story HERE. You can also read about the very moment the A Pint For Kim movement began when we were made aware that the largest use of donated blood is for cancer patients. This blood is needed while they undergo treatments as anemia is a common chemotherapy side effect; your donated blood is what allows cancer patients to be strong enough to keep fighting their battles!
Each fall, Naperville North Student Government hosts a blood drive. We work with them to schedule it near Kim’s birthday. This year, the blood drive is on Tuesday, October 6 (following Kim’s October 3 birthday weekend). It runs from 8AM – 1PM in the Field House.
We STRONGLY suggest making an appointment by CLICKING HERE, though walk-ins are allowed. Also, A Pint For Kim will be donating over $1,000 in raffle prizes that blood donors can enter to win!
As part of A Pint For Kim’s mission to be more than a blood drive, we are launching our first food drive to help combat rising food insecurity in the region.
We will be collecting food at 25 locations across Naperville from October 2-4. You can CLICK HERE to read more and to find your nearest drop-off location!
Also, CLICK HERE to read more about all the ways that APFK is committed to doing good across our community beyond hosting blood drives!
UPDATE: THIS EVENT BROKE THE STATE RECORD FOR THE 7TH STRAIGHT YEAR IN A ROW. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THIS AMAZING DAY! SAVE THE DATE (SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2027) FOR OUR 8TH ANNUAL EVENT!
Once again we will gather on Saturday of Mother’s Day Weekend to save lives in Kim’s memory… and to continue to be Illinois’ largest one-day blood drive!
Our 7th annual event is Saturday, May 9 at Naperville North High School. The first appointment is 7:30 a.m. and the last one is at 2:30 p.m. with walk-ins welcome until 2:15 p.m. You can grab one of our over 1,300 blood donation appointment spots by CLICKING HERE. And you can check back soon for our volunteer sign up!
We are also back again with live music, food trucks, carnival games, a super-car show featuring The Hamilton Collection, therapy dogs, face painting, temporary tattoos, photobooths, kids’ crafts, Mother’s Day card making stations, caricature drawings, and new this year: a bracelet making tent with Mbrace to get ready for our final band of the day: “Sparks Fly”, the Taylor Swift cover band that sold out Naper Nights!
As always, we have our annual “thank you drawing” with tens of thousands of dollars in donated prizes exclusively for our blood donors and volunteers to win!
We can’t wait to see you and your friends and family this Mother’s Day Weekend for another amazing life-saving festival that is ALWAYS completely FREE, family-friendly, and open to ALL! We hope that you will make A Pint For Kim a part of your annual Mother’s Day Weekend traditions
Kim’s youngest sister, Kristyn, wrote a personal essay that was published by The Huffington Post sharing intimate details about how the “A Pint For Kim” movement was born, including how it was actually Kim’s idea!
The essay reached millions of readers resulting in Kim’s family receiving emails from people all over the world sharing their own personal stories of grief and loss as well as joyfully sharing that they donated in Kim’s memory. These messages came from numerous states and countries, officially making the “A Pint For Kim” movement an international one.
To read about how the very first blood drive was launched and to discover why this movement is so important to Kim’s family, you can read the essay here.
You can also read an additional Huff Post essay here where Kristyn shares an experience the family had on Mother’s Day 2024 that helped them feel Kim’s presence and love.
In June 2026, A Pint For Kim hosted our first out-of-state blood drive: A Pint For Christian in California.
This was the first step towards a new part of our mission: to help other families launch annual memorial blood drives for their loved ones.
You can read more about our desire to help families HERE and about A Pint for Christian HERE.
A Pint For Kim is more than a blood drive. It is a movement and a commitment to our community.
As we have grown, we have looked for ways to support the community that has shown up to save lives with us since 2020!
You can read about all the ways we give back to our incredible community HERE.
Above are images from our 2023 and 2024 events! To see all of the beautiful photos taken and generously provided by James Martin of The Base Chicago (2023) and Leslie Najera-Rivas (2024), visit our gallery! And come back soon to see our 2026 event photos!
In March 2020, over 500 people showed up to donate blood when Kim requested that the blood drive be held instead of a wake after she passed. When it was time for the family to carry on the mission, it seemed impossible to find a location that would be big enough to host a blood drive with all of the restrictions in place for Covid. Luckily, J.A. Air Center donated the use of their private airplane hangar making the event possible in 2021 and 2022.
We miss Kim with all of our heart and soul, but seeing all of the lives that are saved – and seeing all of the JOY that the May event brings to families – gives us so much comfort!! We know Kim is smiling with happiness and gratitude upon everyone who is a part of A Pint For Kim!
Kimberley had an extremely rare type of cancer. It is not the only rare disease the family has faced. In 2025, Kim’s father lost his multi-year battle to another rare disease, Multiple System Atrophy (MSA). To learn more about rare diseases including how you can support research or find support for you or a loved one, visit the National Organization for Rare Diseases by CLICKING HERE.
